Making the most of Allah’s reward scheme
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ:
«كُلُّ عَمَلِ ابْنِ آدَمَ لَهُ يُضَاعَفُ، الْحَسَنَةُ بِعَشْرِ أَمْثَالِهَا إِلَى سبع مئة ضِعْفٍ، قَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ: إِلَّا الصَّوْمَ فَإِنَّهُ لِي وَأَنَا أَجْزِي بِهِ، يَدَعُ شَهْوَتَهُ وَطَعَامَهُ مِنْ أَجْلِي».
(رواه مسلم)
“Every deed of the son of Adam is multiplied, a good deed is rewarded ten times its like up to seven hundred times. Allah, the Almighty, said: ‘Except fasting, for it is for Me, and I will reward it. He leaves his desires and food for My sake.'” [Sahih Muslim)
A good deed is rewarded tenfold, and it can increase to seven hundred and even beyond seventy thousand. The Prophet (peace be upon him) is teaching us that all good deeds are multiplied, except fasting. Fasting is singled out: Allah says it belongs to Him, and He Himself will reward it. Allah also explains why: a person leaves food and desires purely for His sake.
This is a unique hadith. We are about ten days from Ramadan. Those who witness Ramadan are fortunate. And those who choose not to fast while they are able to risk real loss and misery.
Every time I come across window to the unseen in the Quran and Sunnah, I am fascinated by them and want to know why Allah is opening this particular window. Usually it is to give a warning or encouragement. Opening a window to glimpse Jahannam is a warning and to Jannah is encouragement.
The reward for deed is multiplied in the unseen, but we would not have known this if the Prophet (peace be upon him) had not told us. We could not have guessed what is behind the curtain, even with AI. So why did he reveal this to us? It’s for motivation.
He wants to encourage us to do more good deeds.
The tariff for good deeds – not only in Ramadan – is ten times more and can increase to seven hundred or seventy thousand depending on the context. Incidentally, the word tariff has been taken from the Arabic word ‘tareef’.
This connects to another hadith. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
«لَا تَحْقِرَنَّ مِنَ الْمَعْرُوفِ شَيْئًا وَلَوْ أَنْ تَلْقَى أَخَاكَ بِوَجْهٍ طَلْقٍ».
(رواه مسلم)
“Do not belittle any good deed, even meeting your brother with a cheerful face.” (Sahih Muslim)
No good deed is insignificant- you will find it in your records. You made someone’s day with your smile. He was weighed down by his issues and struggles and you lightened his load. Though you may have forgotten it, you will find it in your records, multiplied. Maybe you gave some charity, which you considered small, but it made a real difference to someone.
Allah also teaches us the same principle in the Quran:
فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ
(سورة الزلزلة 99:7–8)
“So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it. And whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.” (Surah Az-Zalzalah 99:7–8)
This concept of multiplied enormous reward speaks our language – we often wonder ‘What’s in it for me?’ Apart from a special group, whose outlook and motivation is different, the majority of us are motivated by discounts and bargains and deals. People queue up to get discounts and are thrilled to get 70% off online or offline. So the Prophet (peace be upon him) was speaking to our hearts.
What makes one deed worth 700 or more than 70,000 rather than 10 more? It is the quality of the deed – the sincerity, the intention, doing it purely for Allah, and the effort.
If you rush your salah, perform a Lamborghini salah, it is not a prophetic salah, but if you pray with focus and attention and understanding – you have khushu, this makes or breaks your salah and multiplies your reward.
When it comes to fasting, however, we move to a new reward scale. In the hadith about fasting, first the Prophet (peace be upon him) gives the general rule about deeds being multiplied. Then it shifts into a divine hadith, where Allah speaks, saying: “Except fasting, for it is for Me, and I will reward it.”
Fasting is not exclusive to Ramadan, but it is deeply relevant to Ramadan. Allah is telling us that when you sacrifice for His sake, He gives you beyond your expectations. In our terms, it is like an investment with open-ended return. As you have shares and dividends, when you invest with Allah your return is incalculable.
The best business is business with Allah.
Ibn Rajab (d. 795 AH)explained that fasting is excluded from the specific limits mentioned for other deeds. Other deeds are multiplied from ten up to seven hundred, but fasting is not restricted to that. Allah multiplies it without a set limit. He linked this to patience, and Allah says:
إِنَّمَا يُوَفَّى الصَّابِرُونَ أَجْرَهُمْ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ
(سورة الزمر 39:10)
“Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account.” (Surah Az-Zumar 39:10)
This is why Ramadan is closely tied to patience: it trains you to restrain yourself, to be resilient, and to worship Allah with sincerity.
Fasting trains us to improve the quality of our deeds.
As part of preparation for Ramadan is to purify our intention – this is the core of any deed in order to maximise our reward. Do it for Allah’s sake, not to show your friends you are a pious person. Of course, encourage your friends, Muslim and non-Muslim, to share Ramadan with you. Try half a day or a day. It’s an opportunity to share goodness with others.
Remind your Muslim friends who are strangers to Ramadan to fast and make the right intention. Pay attention to the detail. We say the devil is in the detail; Islamically, the attention which you give to deeds multiplies the reward. So we need to learn the prophetic way of salah and fasting.
This is how you get the highest return – on your heart, body and mind. It’s like saying to us: if you want unlimited reward, then do it for My sake and sacrifice your desires. Don’t pray or pay charity to get acknowledgment from others.
Increase your good deeds, purify your intention, and increase your knowledge of how to perform our salah and fasting in the prophetic way, not as a tick-the-box which will get the minimum of any reward.
Improving the quality of any deed improves its outcome.
Ramadan brings goodness to the ummah – individuals, families and community. It is not an isolated act of worship; it is an ummah project, so we come together and it gives us a booster that we are a strong ummah, when we are together.
Allah is teaching us in the longest ibadah we have by far (an entire month, compared to all the other forms of worship we have), to bring the ummah together.
Historically, we achieved many victories in Ramadan, and we pray that this Ramadan we will have victory over our nafs and shaytan, and the shayateen around us.
We ask Allah for protection from all devils around us. And we ask Allah to enable us to follow the footsteps of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to get closer to Allah, not just in Ramadan but throughout the year.
Based on the Khutbah of Shaykh Haytham Tamim 6th Feb 2026.